His Furbiness, Pope Furbus I

Chapter 3: A Mean Martine

"How is this teaching me about my superpowers?" You ask while giggling.

"Patience, young human. Just do as I say!" Furbus watches me with pride as you continue climbing up and down the truffula tree. You would think that your hands should be raw and sore from going at this for the better part of the last hour, but the truffula bark is oddly soothing and relaxing while being easy to grip. "Climb all the way down this time, (YN). I think you are ready!". As soon as your feet are back on the soft grass, your Long Furby friend beckons you towards him. "Now try again!".

"Wh-what?" You thought you were done with that! "I just finished!".

"Now do it here! Just without the tree. Just trust me, (YN)". You start pretending to climb a tree, still looking like a stubby giraffe stuffed animal. You think you are going to look stupid, but to your surprise, you start to ascend into the air. "That's it, my friend! Gary is a giraffian spirit, but as you may have noticed in his form, Gary does not have a long neck or legs. This is how he reaches a giraffy height!". Soon, you have climbed higher than the truffula tree and you feel all-powerful. "Come back down and let's see what else you can do! Here! Pick up one of the fallen truffula tufts". He grabs himself a tuft of his own and starts to demonstrate what he wants you to do. He squeezes it in his fist and presses it upward as he flattens his palm. "Try to propel it as high as possible". His pink truffula fluff ascends far into the sky and then gently floats to the ground. You do the same, and each time, your truffula gets higher and higher. "Now with emotion! Think of your happiest memories as you do it!"

"Woah! It's... it's..." A vibrant rainbow wave radiates from your palm and ruffles the truffula trees as it makes its way outwards.

"That's it! That's it!" Furbus jumps up and down excitedly as your rainbow gets stronger and stronger. "As you can see, Gary does like his rainbows! This is one of his more unique superpowers."

"Yes, well what does it do?"

"A great many things, (YN). It depends on your intent. It can act as a shield and protect, attack if you are in danger, heal, and my favorite, you can make your target dance! Try that last one on me!". You send him a rainbow and think of a fantastic Long Furby jig.

"YIPEE!!!" He screams as he spins round and round to a silent beat. Both of you laugh merrily as you send him rainbow vibes until a creature that has the same shape as your stuffie self, but with the telltale ears of a llama, sneaks up on you both. You freeze, and Furbus stops his dancing immediately. "Martine." Furbus growls as his eyes narrow.

"We meet again." The llama whispers. His smooth voice is quiet but seems to fill the air with tension. "I wanted to meet this new friend of yours". He says. You have a bad feeling about this.

"Stay away from (YN). They don't have any interest in your ideology, Martine".

"I thought we could have a quick chit chat. I could sense a great power in Thneedville that I just had to visit. I thought we could be friends, (YN)." Furbus looks at me with worry in his eyes.

"I didn't want to get into politics, but you see, (YN), Martine has been visiting your land and I fear that he is the cause of the plague. His power, while not as strong as Gary's," Martine scoffs and gives Furbus a side eye, "gives him the ability to create new strands of diseases. He grows only more powerful through fear, so this outbreak seems to be serving him quite nicely".

"You!" You say. "You are infecting my land for what, party tricks?".

"I see why you may think that, but you have so much to gain as well, child of Gary".

"He just wants you for your power!" Furbus screams. "He knows your potential! Don't let him sway you!". You have never seen him so impassioned.

"Join me, and that tacky rainbow of yours will become so much more! We can use it to spread the plague and gain ULTIMATE POWER!"

"I will not stand for this anymore!" You scream..At that moment, you remember what all this is about: your power.

"BE GONE!" You scream as you expel potent rainbows toward your foe. He is zipped backward into the depths of Thneedville.

"I'll see you very soon, I suspect" Martine calls back to us as he is whisked away.

"You are quite powerful, but he will find us again. We best be on our way before he comes back here and you transform back to your human form. You may still have your powers, but the journey will be quite tiring on your human legs!". At that, you are both on your way to find a new campsite in Thneedville.